After 12 years and 7 LCS titles, TSM have officially announced their decision to leave the LCS and move on. TSM started competing in League of Legends over a decade ago and built a name for themselves as a North American powerhouse and one of the oldest organisations in the esport. Now that TSM has bid farewell to the LCS and Shopify Rebellion are slated to take their slot, we want to take a trip down memory lane to cover all of TSM’s achievements and contributions to the world of League of Legends.
Why is TSM leaving the LCS?
If TSM has experienced so much success throughout their history as an organisation, and in recent years too, why was the decision to leave the LCS made? Well, according to Andy Dinh, this decision wasn’t one that came easily. TSM has been working on this change for the past three years and isn’t leaving League of Legends entirely.
Although still unconfirmed exactly where to go, TSM is heading to another major region to continue competing. TSM is first and foremost a League of Legends team, but they never were able to claim the most prestigious title: World Champions. Dinh believes that moving to another region will reignite TSM’s hunger and drive to continue to push forward towards this ultimate goal.
Fans have speculated about TSM’s financial health, as they’ve pulled out of some esports disciplines recently. However, after selling its LCS spot to Shopify Rebellion for a reported $10M USD, TSM likely has all the money it needs to set itself up with a very competitive roster in another region. TSM’s departure from the LCS isn’t a goodbye to League of Legends as a whole, but they leave behind a historic legacy that has etched their name into the minds of League of Legends fans around the globe.
TSM’s LCS Viewership
Looking at TSM’s viewership over the past six years, we can track their popularity and performance as a team through their metrics. 2017 was the strongest year for TSM’s League of Legends viewership in our database, and this was boosted by the dominance of the team. 2017 was the final true season of TSM’s dominance in the LCS, as they breezed through both Spring and Summer to secure a first-place finish in both Playoffs stages.
TSM went on to attend Worlds 2017 and despite missing out on top eight at the event, their appearance at Worlds earned them a large chunk of viewership and set a peak concurrent viewers personal record for the year.
2018 was the first year in LCS history that saw TSM win neither the Summer or Spring Playoffs events. Their best result of the year was a third-place place at the Summer Playoffs event, and the team failed to qualify for Worlds this year. TSM missing out on Worlds would be a key factor in their significant drop in viewership for select years.
2019 followed a similar story. The American organisation failed to win either of the Split Playoffs and they finished second at the Regional Finals. Their viewership was primarily comparable to Season 2019, and this year also suffered from not qualifying for the Worlds event. The Peak Viewers figure for TSM in these two years was far lower than either of the years where TSM qualified for Worlds.
Coming into 2020, TSM showed a return to form and managed to win the Summer Playoffs event, guaranteeing them a spot at Worlds. This return to success helped the organisation to garner some of the largest viewership it had experienced in recent years. 2020 was a hugely successful year for League of Legends overall, with many of the tournaments from this year being some of the most-watched events in the discipline’s history. However, TSM exited early at Worlds, leaving without making even the top 12. Despite setting a record in Peak Viewers for the organisation, watch time did not manage to overcome the amount received in 2017.
Moving past 2020, viewership starts to drop off for TSM. In 2021, they were able to win the Summer Split, enough to garner some viewership, but they were finishing events towards the bottom half of the table in the recent couple of years and viewership has been on a major downturn for the organisation.
Perhaps Dinh’s idea that TSM needs to be internationally competitive holds some merit. Without successful performances both regionally and internationally, the League of Legends roster struggled to garner viewership and could not meet the high expectations created by previous seasons. Some fresh scenery and competition might be just what TSM needs to continue to dominate the esports industry.
TSM’s League of Legends Legacy
TSM’s legacy in League of Legends and the LCS is forever marked in the history books of the esports discipline. Take a look back at some of the key facts about TSM’s achievements in both North America and internationally.
TSM began competing in League of Legends in 2011, marking their entry into the budding North American scene. Eventually, the LCS was founded and TSM dominated this year for years. Ultimately, their more than a decade-long domination in the esport can be traced back to the Go4LoL North America tournament. A weekly tournament cup with a prize pool of $100 USD was the first-ever tournament that TSM officially entered.
Growing from weekly tournaments to the LCS, TSM continued their winning streak and took over the league as the primary source of competition and rivalry for other North American teams. In total, they won 7 LCS titles and this has bagged them approximately $1.5M USD in prize pool money throughout the years. They reached their best viewership during the LCS Summer 2020, where they earned over 3M Hours Watched in one match, before setting a Personal Viewers record at Worlds 2020.
In the earlier graph, we analysed how TSM’s inability to qualify for Worlds in recent years negatively impacted their viewership potential, however, prior to 2017 TSM was the most consistent North American organisation in regards to qualifying for Worlds. They qualified for the first-ever World Championship in 2011 after winning the Qualifier in their region, and thereafter they qualified for Worlds seven years running. This places them tied-third for the team with the most Worlds appearances, bested by Fnatic and C9.
Finally, TSM are the most-watched LCS team in the history of the league. They rank as the number one team in terms of various metrics, such as Hours Watched, Average Viewers, and Peak viewers across the last six years of the LCS. Whether you are upset about the TSM leaving the LCS or not, this is a turning point in League of Legends history as one of the organisations that moulded the LCS into what it is today has left. TSM are not gone from League of Legends entirely, but their departure from the LCS is a new page in their esports journey.
About TSM
TSM spawned out of SoloMid.net, a League of Legends blog created by brothers Andy and Dan Dinh. The site eventually formed a team of their community members, and the name Team SoloMid was born. The team began making waves in the community, winning multiple amateur events and eventually competing in the league that would become the LCS.
While TSM was building up a fanbase through their solid performances in the North American League of Legends scene, they began expanding into other esports disciplines. TSM signed the famous Super Smash Bros. player Leffen and signed an established Danish CS:GO team to their organisation. Under TSM’s wing, their CS:GO roster went on a rampage and won multiple S-tier offline events in 2015, but the organisation dropped the roster at the end of the year. Under the American organisation, Leffen also went on to win multiple events of his own: CEO 2015, Super Smash Con, and more.
At this point, TSM quickly became a household name in the esports scene. They continued to build their esports brand and have not slowed down. TSM branched out into the chess world and signed Hikaru Nakamura, one of the most recognisable names in chess. Just earlier this month, TSM achieved their first Apex Legends major victory, as their roster took home first place at the ALGS 2023 Championship event.
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